#28: Films for the farming movement, rural-urban connections in Greece and fungi to manage weeds

Welcome to another episode of Farmerama with more voices from the smaller-scale farming communities in the UK and beyond.

This month we hear from two projects which are using film to share stories from the front-line of farming. First up is filmmaker Sabine Hellmann who shares about her Participatory Video work with small-scale farmers in Malawi, a practice she developed working with Insight Share. Also featured is the recently released ‘In Our Hands’ film from the Land Workers’ Alliance and Blackbark Films. They say, “At the heart of all change lies a story, and ‘In Our Hands’ is the story of a new kind of farm, a new kind of food and a new kind of society”.

We hear a brief excerpt from one of the farmers featured in the film, dairy farmer Josh Healey (pictured above) at North Aston Dairy. He has just 18 cows and runs a successful milk business employing 2.5 people. The film is free to screen and they encourage everyone to setup screenings in towns and cities around the UK to spread the word.
Thanks to the GROW Observatory team in Dundee, we meet sociologist Maria Partalidou, who’s been studying the relationship between urban and rural communities in Greece.

And we indulge in more fungi-love with soil expert Joel Williams as we learn how it’s possible to manage weeds simply by working with the microbial balance in the soil.

This month’s episode was produced by Jo Barratt, Katie Revell and Abby Rose. Special thanks to Pavlos Georgiadis and the Grow Observatory team for the interview from Greece, and thanks to Hannah Steenbergen for her interview with Humphrey.